Bhutan Enduro / All Mountain

Ride time 6-7 hours/ 35 km Let’s get straight into riding. Today we’ll explore what the capital city boasts as some of our best MTB trails in the country. Proceed to the Buddha point on a 4 km gentle climb, where the largest Buddha statue (169ft) sits overlooking the Thimphu city. Take a short diversion on a MTB trail to the viewpoint to ride in the capital’s favorite MTB trails called the KC Trail that extends for 6 km and exits in Motithang. Shuttle back to the Buddha statue and ride the downhill trail to Babesa. Then we’ll hit the hills up to the Takin Reserve centre to see the national animal first. Then continue to the Radio tower from where the Wangditse MTB single-track trail starts. Enjoy shredding this trail down to Bebena. Shuttle back to the radio tower and ride the Takin trail that is a purpose built MTB trail where you can go fast and furious through the twists and turns in the pine forests. After lunch, we’ll hike-a-bike for an hour on the Phajoding trail and ride the ridge down to the radiotower and continue on the Takin MTB trail and enjoy another fast flowy rides. The entire ride is on fantastic singletrack punctuated with great views over the capital city. You may also likely come across some of our local MTB riders on this popular trail. Stroll around the city and enjoy a nice dinner at one of the best restaurants in the capital city. Your time in Bhutan is not just about riding, but also to enjoy some very good craft beers. We’ll to to one of our favorite bars called the Mojo Park where young musicians will be belting out covers and originals. It would be interesting to see a bit of Bhutan’s urban culture! If anyone of you has a penchant for music, you might as well hit the stage too!

Every rider that we’ve taken riding as agreed that this is one of the world’s best trails they’ve ridden, and they’ve ridden a lot around the world. Drive to Trashigang Ghompa at 3000m and we’ll hike-a-bike to Lungchutse Ghompa for an hour on a easy pace. Some strong riders may be able to ride 60% of it. From the trail head at 3600m, the ride drops into rhododendron forests with wide and wild trails for 3 km of pure descending in the mist. From Dohula pass, we continue riding on the Trans-Bhutan trail- a heritage trail with full of Bhutan’s history. These are the trails where the nation was built and is full of stories. Continue descending down on the famous Madman trail down to Talo village where a picnic lunch will be waiting for you. After lunch, continue to ride down to an old village by the river, and from there you’ll continue to pedal on a gentle and long meditative climb through pine forests offering great views. Once you reach Laptsakha village, we’ll continue to downhill to Punakha Dzong fortress. The ride is 25 km with 90% downhill through one of the best trails in the world! Beer time at a local bar and head to hotel for a nice evening and dinner.

Ride time 6 hours, 20 km Today we’ll enjoy some serious descents. After breakfast, we’ll shuttle to Tshochhasa village and again enjoy a long flowy descent from 2800m to 1300m. This ride mostly winds through chripine forests and ends at the paddy fields near the fortress. Shuttle to Talo village for about an hour and a half and enjoy riding on one of the best downhill singletrack natural trails in the valley. We’ll stop at Nobgang village for a lovey farmhouse lunch in a rural setting. After lunch continue descending to through beautiful forests and villages, punctuated with monasteries and awesome viewpoints.

After 4 days of riding, your body will ask for a well-deserved rest. Drive to Punakha valley to visit Khamsum Yuelley Namgyal stupa, which involves a short scenic hike through paddy fields for about 45 minutes till the hilltop where the temple is located. From here you can also enjoy a majestic view of the underlying valley. The temple itself is a splendid example of Bhutan’s fine architectural and artistic traditions and the only one of its kind in the world. Return to Base and drive towards Punakha. A picnic lunch is served on the banks of the Punakha river. Continue to Punakha Dzong – the most beautiful fortress in Bhutan situated at the confluence of two rivers. This ancient fortress is the winter residence of the monastic order’s leadership and still serves as the administrative headquarters for the Punakha region. The fortress is a fine example of Bhutan’s rich art and architecture, and our guide who is an expert in iconography will explain all aspects of art, architecture, history, and its significance. Finally, visit Lobesa village and pay your respects to one of Bhutan’s most charming and eccentric historic figures nicknamed ‘The Divine Madman’ at the Chhimi Lhakhang – also called the fertility monastery - our guide will explain the entire story about it. The visit involves a short nice hike through a beautiful village surrounded by paddy fields.

Ride time 6 hours, 20 km Today we’ll be riding to Khotokha valley – a beautiful scenic valley that is so off-the-beaten-path that you feel like you’ve have been transported back 200 years into medieval Bhutan. This is why we say that there is no better way to explore Bhutan than on a bike, because tourists with passenger vehicles hardly venture this way. We’ll start our day with a 2-hour shuttle drive that traverses through some scenic villages and old forests of oak, spruce and rhodendendrons. Once we reach the pass, we get on our bikes and ride down to Khotokha valley on a gentle descent through pine forests. As you ride down, the valley opens up to beautiful pasture lands of the nomads in this valley. We’ll have lunch here at a farmhouse. After lunch, we’ll start climbing on a gentle ascent for about 45 minutes on a jeep track that slowly turns to singletrack. From here it’s another 45-minute hike-a-bike to Moleyla pass at 3,000m. The hike-a-bike is a beautiful walk through pristine forests all the way to the pass. Riders are greeted with beautiful distant views of the Himalayan peaks that dot the northern frontiers of Bhutan. We’ll we’ve worked hard to get to the top and now riders will be rewarded by one of the most exhilarating ride and perhaps the most technical ride of the trip on this 13 km trail. As soon as you point the bar downwards, it lands on some loamy switchbacks and now you are smiling like anything. The first 40% of the ride is punctuated by rock gardens and then it becomes a glorious forest ride for which there is only one word to describe – shred! The trails are full of roots, leaves, switchbacks, natural berms, small jumps and very fast sections allowing you to get into the flow of this extraordinary trail and we’ll bike all the way to your hotel. Drive to Paro in the late afternoon.

After breakfast, shuttle and hike a bike for one hour to Jela Dzong and we’ll hit the famous Jela trail which is a 15 km downhilll ride on one of the best trails in Bhutan. After lunch in Paro town, shuttle the bikes for about an hour and a half to reach the distant Kila Goenpa nunnery at 3800m. Once we reach the temple, we’ll enjoy a long descend down to Paro valley for 12 km. The trail starts to get nice loamy on a beautiful fast-flowing trail through rhododendron and Oak forests. Once we get to Gorina monastery, the trail starts to get loose with hardpack dirt with a number of rock gardens, making it awesome ride. The entire DH section is close to 12 km. This trail is pure ecstasy with very interesting features. Visit a farmhouse to try a herbal hot-stone bath which is known to be therapeutic and helps ailments related to joints and muscle aches, besides simply soothing your mind and body. Perfect to unwind and goes well with the Red Panda local beer. This is a complimentary value-added experience from Bhutan Travel Club without any hidden costs.

We got to finish your Bhutan ride strong. Today we’ll ride up to Bumdra campsite via Sangchhokhor Buddhist College at 2800 m and then past the yak pasturelands to reach Bumdra Monastery (3,800 m). The initial two-hour ascent of a shady, forested ridge, brings us to a clearing with prayer flags and views of the underlying Paro valley. The trail poses a good challenge to test your climbing skills as some parts are quite steep, or we can simply push the bike. After a final 20-minute climb through ruins and fluttering prayer flags, we plunge back into ancient forest, and, after traversing for about 40 minutes, we come out onto a high wide meadow dotted with sacred chortens and prayer flags. The hike-a-bike (Bhutanese Shuttle) is about 3.5 hours in total. After lunch at Bumdra, we’ll ride Bhutan’s ultimate downhill with a pit stop at the famous Tiger’s Nest monastery. It’s a 2000 m descend on some spectacular trails. Switchbacks, off-camber, downhill, rock gardens, flowy trails, enduro style of riding – you name it and its all there. Dan Milner – famous MTB photographer says with a big smile on his face – that top section was like one of the best trails of “Finale Ligure”. After visiting this spectacular temple, we’ll enjoy some proper downhill type of riding to end a spectacular MTB adventure in Bhutan. Tonight its chill time with some beers and some good times together.

Transfer to the airport for your outbound flight, concluding your Himalayan MTB journey.